Bendigo skipper to miss chance in AFL

Brent Diamond

STATE league players are more confident of plugging holes on an AFL list than ever in Tuesday's pre-season and rookie drafts, given the recent influx of mature-age players.

But there are plenty of potential ready-made players who will miss the cut.

One of those who has already been told his fate before Tuesday is Bendigo skipper Ben Duscher, who had been training at Essendon and the Western Bulldogs.

The 25-year-old midfielder took six weeks of unpaid leave from his daily job as a carpenter to give himself another shot, perhaps his last.

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He spent three weeks training with the Bombers, Bendigo's former affiliate, where he was ''quietly confident'' of winning an opportunity. He was told that he wasn't in Essendon's plans and headed to the Western Bulldogs on the back of an invitation from Bulldogs assistant coach Shannon Grant, who had been Duscher's former coach.

''I think he's [Grant] been trying to push for me for the last couple of years but obviously where the club is and the direction they're going, they want a couple of players that have already been in the system,'' Duscher said.

''I'm glad that I did it. There's no ifs or maybes about the effort that I put in so I'm happy with what I've done but that's all I can do.''

It was the arrival of delisted Bomber Brent Prismall at training at Whitten Oval that ultimately shut down any chance for Duscher to land at the Dogs.

''It's just that opportunity. It eats me up, to be honest,'' Duscher said. Duscher said he was told by the club that it wanted to recruit former AFL players. Former Fremantle defender and midfielder Nick Lower was one. Prismall appears likely to be another.

Collingwood is set to draft Ben Hudson and is keen on getting one or two experienced state league midfielders including WAFL Sandover medallist Kane Mitchell, Frankston's Kyle Martin or Port Melbourne's Sam Dwyer.

Other clubs are also taking notice of the Dolphins' prospects with Leigh Osborne training at Gold Coast, while Sydney has shown interest in key forward Khan Haretuku.